Extrajudicial killings

[RE: UA-216-2005: PHILIPPINES: Soldiers kill nine farmers in Leyte, Visayas; UP-141-2005: PHILIPPINES: Peasants were brutally massacred by soldiers; pregnant woman among the dead; UP-019-2006: PHILIPPINES: Possible irregularities in police investigation; survivor details brutal killings of peasants; UP-053-2006: PHILIPPINES: Commission on Human Rights (CHR) set to file charges against soldiers allegedly involved in killing peasants in […]

In addition to the general statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for International Human Rights Day on December 10, we are also making the brief comments below on the human rights situation in several Asian countries. A more comprehensive report will be available soon. Sri Lanka The most violent place in Asia […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was informed that a man was allegedly beaten to death by the Nabiganj police in Habiganj district on 25 November 2006. After the police allegedly beat the driver of the commandeered private pickup van, the perpetrators left his dead body along a roadside ditch. No murder charges […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

Dutch and Belgian Lawyers organizations were alarmed by the reports and statements of international and Filipino human rights organizations and various news items about the violence against members of the legal profession in the Philippines. Lawyers and judges are reportedly victims of serious harassment and intimidation while in the exercise of their profession or brutally […]

PHILIPPINES: Extra-judicial killings, violence against activist; a need for impartial and independent investigation; enforced and involuntary disappearance; torture; collapse of rule of lawTo support this appeal, please click: ————————————- Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that three more activists were brutally killed while four other persons disappeared in […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Philippine authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Philippine authorities are […]

PHILIPPINES: Extra-judicial killings, violence against activist; impartial and independent investigation; alleged involvement by military in killings; collapse of rule of law ————————————- Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another activist was killed while two other religious workers survived attempts on their lives in separate incidents on November […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the alleged extra-judicial killing of 32-year-old carpenter Bacha Ram Chaudari, a permanent resident of Rayapur Village Development Committee (VDC)-9, Rayapur, Saptari District, Nepal. Bacha Ram Chaudari was reportedly shot dead by police junior Ram Abatar Yadav of Area Police Station Rupani, Saptari on […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 3, 2006 AHRC-OL-061-2006 An Open Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by the Asian Human Rights Commission Louise Arbour High Commissioner UN High Commission on Human Rights OHCHR-UNOG 8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211 Geneva 10 SWITZERLAND Fax:  +41 22 917-9006 Dear Ms. Arbour THAILAND: UN role needed […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the tragic murder of Mr. Marino, a 38 year old farmer, by brigadier officers of the Sukoharjo Mobile Police Unit on 20 October 2006, at the home of his parents-in-law in the Sukoharjo district in the Surakarta region of Central Java. On the […]

In March 2005, the then-army commander in Thailand, General Pravit Wongsuwan, was asked what disciplinary action would be taken against three generals found liable for the death of 84 innocent civilians on 25 October 2004, six outside the Tak Bai District Police Station and 78 in army trucks that transported over one thousand demonstrators and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that two more persons were killed in the name of ‘crossfire’ by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Khulna on 1 September 2006, after being arbitrarily arrested from their respective houses. The RAB-6 Commanding Officer claimed that the two persons were involved in extortion […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are attached below […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) commends the efforts of Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Raul Gonzalez to issue immediate orders to “provide security” to the witnesses who could identify the perpetrators of the bombings on Mindanao on October 10 and to “facilitate the release of funds for compensation” to the affected victims; for after […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) or the Philippine Independent Church, Fr. Dionisio Ging-Ging (53), was brutally murdered in Barangay Bajao, Tago, Surigao del Sur on 8 October 2006. According to our sources, three suspects, hooded with bonnets or […]

After Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or  Philippine Independent Church, was killed on October 3, police investigators were quick to declare his death as a case of robbery and homicide. Two days later the Philippine National Police (PNP) pronounced Bishop Ramento’s case “solved” following the arrest of four alleged suspects in […]

The tenure of office of Chandra Fernando as the IGP ended last week.  Throughout his tenure the Asian Human Rights Commission has pointed out the failure of leadership on his part to lift up the police service from its legacy of the use of torture as the primary means of criminal investigation, the use of […]

Statement of European Church and Civil Society Organisations We are concerned about the upsurge of politically motivated killings and the constant deterioration of the human rights situation in the Philippines in recent years. Amnesty International informs that at least 51 political killings took place in the first half of 2006, compared to the 66 killings […]

The Indonesia Supreme Court quashed a judgment by the Court of Appeal which affirmed the 14 year jail sentence pronounced by the Central Jakarta District Court last December against Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the murder of the well known human rights campaigner Munir. The Supreme Court in a two-to-one judgment reduced the charge against the […]